Toronto Maple Leafs Blow Huge Lead

The Toronto Maple Leafs were up 3-0 in the second period against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but failed to hold onto their lead.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were dominating the Lightning in the first and second periods. Yet again, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ leading goal scorer, James van Riemsdyk proved to be pivotal. Unfortunately, JVR was quiet in the third, but it wasn’t JVR’s fault that the Toronto Maple Leafs fell. JVR put the Toronto Maple Leafs in the driver’s seat, but the defensive units didn’t hold up their end of the bargain.

JVR Doing What He Does Best

At the 4:59 mark in the first period, Connor Carrick pretended that he was going to take a slap shot from the point. Carrick then decided to feed the puck to Mitch Marner. Marner held onto the puck and spotted JVR parked in front of Lightning net-minder, Andrei Vasilevskiy. JVR collected the puck from Marner’s pass and quickly fired a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy to grab a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, JVR continued to be a dominant force for the Toronto Maple Leafs. This time, the Toronto Maple Leafs were on the power-play. JVR did what he does best. Again, he parked himself in front of Vasilevskiy. At the same time, Tyler Bozak fired a shot on Vasilevskiy. The puck then bounced off of his pad. JVR then collected the rebound and put the puck past Vasilevskiy to secure a 2-0 lead.

Hyman Dazzles In Tampa, But The Leafs Allow Late Second Period Goal

Later on in the second period, Zach Hyman showed off his stellar defensive and offensive skill-set.

Tyler Johnson of the Tampa Bay Lightning was attempting to make a pass, but Hyman stole the pass. He then sniped home a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy to make the score 3-0.

As we all know well, the worst lead in hockey is a 3-0 lead. The Toronto Maple Leafs proved that again last night.

Hedman & McDonagh Steal The Show

At least on Victor Hedman’s goal in the late second period, the Toronto Maple Leafs showed that they were still fighting for the puck. Nazem Kadri was tailing Hedman and vying for the puck. He just lost out.

I’ll admit that Ron Hainsey blocking Frederik Andersen’s sight didn’t help, but Hainsey was trying to defend Chris Kunitz, who also parked himself in front of Andersen.

In the early third period, Ryan McDonagh, the former New York Ranger continued to hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs. McDonagh collected a pass from Yanni Gourde and took a wrist shot top shelf past Andersen. Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they were depending on Roman Polak to make a block or some attempt to snatch the puck away from McDonagh. Instead, Polak just stood in front of McDonagh and puck watched. The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t rely on Polak in the playoffs if he continues to puck watch and not do much else. Mike Babcock needs to sit Polak down and educate him on how to go after the puck. Perhaps, Babcock should show Polak footage from Hyman’s second period goal.

Kucherov & Killorn Continue To Shut Down The Leafs

In the third period, Nikita Kucherov grabbed his 37th goal of the season. He positioned a shot on net from the right side of Andersen. Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the puck ricocheted off of Morgan Rielly and slid past Andersen to tie the game.

The torture didn’t stop. It continued. Anthony Cirelli, the former Oshawa General, saw Alex Killorn open and flipped a pass to him. Killorn collected the puck and one-timed it past Andersen to grab the lead for Tampa.

Later on in the period, the Toronto Maple Leafs ruined a power-play opportunity and failed to capitalize. The power-play pretty much sealed the deal for the Toronto Maple Leafs and they ended up empty handed.

Next: Why I'm Smarter than Mike Babcock

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking for redemption on Thursday night as they battle the Nashville Predators at the Bridgestone Arena at 8:00 pm EST. Hopefully, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have a healthy Auston Matthews on the ice to spark an offensive surge.

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